A blast wave of pure destruction tore outward from the Demon rending everything in the chamber including the Demon and the Knight into pieces. Tidal waves of abyssal black fire annihilated the chamber as the walls, floor, and ceiling cracked before detonating under the pressure of the explosion. The chamber one of the most sophisticated pieces of magical engineering ever conceived detonated in an explosion powerful enough to rival the birth cry of a star.
The explosion lingered for several seconds, arcs of debris flying outward interspersed with rivulets of abyssal dark flames. The clouds of detritus and severed god-flesh floated in a void of nothingness as the bow wave of flames spread in all directions. Like the birth of a universe the walls of flames and debris exploded in all directions. For several seconds the tableau held, arcs of pure destruction vibrant and visceral hung in the void. Gradually, almost carefully entropy reached tentative fingers forward, slowly the flames began to dim as their energy was exhausted, the clouds of debris began to slow piece by piece before gradually coming to a stop. The cloud of debris floated in the void, countless pieces gently twirling and spinning in an invisible wind before gradually coming to a perfect stop.
Then the shattered chamber annihilated beyond comprehension began to rebuild itself.
Jet black flames began to flow backwards, clouds of debris moved in reverse, broken chamber walls rebuilt themselves atom by atom. Debris reattached; cracks unmade themselves as colossal pillars rebuilt themselves shattered piece by shattered piece. A colossal mountain of black flesh regrew from seemingly nothing before sprouting six arms, a head, and legs. Chains grew from nowhere and looped around each of the limbs before a single cyclopean eye the colour of the abyss opened.
"Whoooo", the Demon breathed a sigh of relief as it's body reformed, and chains reattached themselves. "I figured you guys had built some kind of fail-safe into this place in case I escaped but to think you managed to piece together a chronological lock, though I suppose I should be thankful". The Demon caressed its colossal hands across its chest, if it had been mortal, it would have likely been trying to feel its heartbeat. "So that's what it feels like to sacrifice your soul for power, no wonder the mortals always try and resist, that's a horrific sensation".
The Demon sagged comfortably in its chains which slackened substantially before snapping tight. A chain snaked round its head seeking to bind its eye, but the Demon swatted the annoyance away. "Speaking of fools" it murmured at an orb of brilliant light which hovered some distance away from it. At his words pillars of jade stone the equal of his rose up around the orb which began to oscillate wildly.
The Demon rested its head on its chin and waited. The orb began rapidly shifting colour and dimensions, becoming a cube, a four-legged beast, even a miniature mimicry of the demon briefly before its returned to an orb of pure light. Gradually the orb began to shift, legs and a chest became a visible as a slowly the figure of a human female was sculpted. A pure silver kimono covered her features and hair the colour of starlight emerged from her head flowing halfway down her torso. A crimson spider lily adorned her hair as silver orb in place of eyes slowly opened. She was beautiful, a biologically perfectly proportioned individual. Until dozens of chains whipped out from the surrounding pillars binding her hand and foot. She opened her mouth to scream fury creasing her face, but no sound escaped her lips. After a moment she collapsed in her chains, her arms held above head unable to fully fall to the ground.
Silence filled the chamber.
Until it was shattered by the cawing, mocking laughter of the Demon. "Hahahahahha!!", the Demon bellowed in joy and smashed its chained hands into the floor like an adolescent boy discovering boobs for the first time. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen! How does it feel little Knight! Tell me! How does it feel to be on the other side of the bars!". The once almost all-powerful Knight was unresponsive, silver eyes closed as she hung limply in her manacles. "Truly you out did yourself with this bird cage little godling, I mean the ability to turn back time itself! What kind of ludicrous construction is this place?! All that work, all those spells and schemes and bargains, all ultimately … meaningless!". The Demon revelled in its vindictiveness, rubbing salt in the wound of its enemies failure.
"I figured they'd leave someone to watch over me, but I never would have imagined the heavenly monarch herself would dain to lower herself to the role of a mere jailor". The Demon's maw twisted in a horrific facsimile of a smile it's words as it gazed at its silent foe. "Why so silent o ruler of the heavens, lady matriarch, Queen of the gods, what's the matter constellation got your tongue?". The Knight opened pure silver eyes and glared at the Demon as it assessed its situation. Similarly, to the Demon she was bound in a kneeling position though unlike the Demon only her arms and feet were bound with chains giving her a much greater range of mobility. Pancthea, matriarch of the celestial realm, primordial goddess of order, called queen of the Gods, and named as the Knight by mortals, stared in silent fury at her arch-rival. Eyes composed of pure silver with no visible sclera or pupils stared unflinchingly into the abyss of the Demon's titanic cyclopean eye.
Silence descended on the room as the two sovereigns stared silent hatred at each other.
Two creatures as diametrically opposed as existed in all creation stared at each in silent appraisal. Neither opponent was reflected in their foes eyes, the Demon's colossal orb seemed to swallow Pancthea in an endless abyss of darkness whilst the pure silver orbs of the goddess seemed to erase the Demon entirely as though it was unworthy of existing in her universe.
"How".
Pancthea broke the silence. Her voice was clear and demanding, a monarch addressing a serf undaunted by the fact her opponent towered above her at more than ten times her size. The Demon met Pancthea's gaze with a smile so wide that its mouth tore at the seams, black blood weeping from its mouth as it leant slowly towards the diminutive goddess. The colossal Demon towered over the goddess; its colossal eye was larger than the entire goddess. It hovered a few metres away from Pancthea as close as it chains would allow.
"Beg".
Disgust warped Pancthea's features as she spat a glob of saliva into the Demon's eye which landed with a wet hissing sound. Unperturbed a chuckle slipped out from between the lips before erupting in a throaty bellowing laugh. The Demon rocked backwards laughter ripping from its lips as it cackled. "Oh, you should see your face little godling! Fret not little one, I'll do my mandatory exposition in a second, I just want to savour that look on your face". Pancthea's face still warped with disgust shifted to an emotionless visage, turning from the Demon she examined her chains closely. "So? Speak" she demanded not turning to the Demon who was busy making faces at her turned back.
Pancthea rolled her head back fixing the gesticulating Demon with a look colder than glaciers, the Demon's grin only grew in response.
"You know you really out did yourself with this cage, I know my praise means less than dirt to you but genuinely one genius to another, this cage is a marvel. I'll be as honest with you as I physically can godling, I don't think even I could create something this sophisticated". The Demon gave a mocking bow towards the tiny form of the goddess its grin threatening to rip its face open.
"That of course was your mistake you fool of a god".
Pancthea's brow furrowed but she said nothing allowing the Demon its tangent knowing she would get more from the Demon if she allowed it to revel in its victory. "You overcomplicated the system, I mean a chronological lock?! Are you insane! How ridiculous do you plan to be to just casually rewrite reality to turn back time??! What kind of lunatic messes with the under-pinning principles of reality like that and take from the creature you call Demon, if I think you're doing something insane then you truly have lost your mind!". No small amount of respect tinged the Demon's voice as it spoke, it could appreciate artistry even if it despised the artist.
"Anyway" the Demon continued in an almost bored tone, "When you start messing with things at that fundamental a level, all subtlety and fine control gets thrown out the window, you get so bogged down in the mechanics of how to make it actually function you lose any control over the specifics of the action". The Demon held up a middle finger on one colossal hand, "One, once a threshold of damage to the seal has been reached a time shift will be triggered to reverse time to undo said damage".
"Two", the Demon raised a second middle finger, "The activation conditions of such a time shift have to be very specific otherwise the seal would weaken itself by repeatedly reversing time, seeing as how when that pawn of mine prised the top of the seal the time shift didn't activate, the time shift must only occur when there is a chance my physical body can escape the seal". "Third", the Demon raised a final middle finger, "For the time shift to function without drastically weakening the seal it must draw upon the energy of individuals already inside the seal". "Which begs the question how can the seal differentiate between hostile and non-hostile energy when it activates the time shift?".
Pancthea was silent for several seconds. She did her best not to let the frustration of having her masterpiece seen through in an instant show on her face. "It can't", she answered after thinking on the matter. "Exactly", the Demon nodded its head waggling its three raised middle fingers at Pancthea before pointing two fingers at Pancthea and another at itself. "As far as the seal is concerned it's a device designed to contain things with colossal amount of power, it doesn't care what shape that power takes as long as it passes a certain threshold it will automatically move to contain it". "In the seal's eyes there is no difference between the two of us, despite our obvious difference in attractiveness you ugly hag".
Pancthea ignored the pathetic barb from a being that was so hideous it had literally killed mortals who had looked upon its face unprepared. "You baited me into an engagement so I would be forced to draw on enough of my power that the seal would confuse me with you and use both of our energy in order power the time shift, the seal would then recognise that energy as something that had to be contained and would imprison me alongside you". "But how could you know that would work?", frustration and confusion bled into Pancthea's quiet voice.
"You see Pancthea, this is why you don't agree to be a guardian for a system you didn't design yourself because you make colossal blunders like this", the Demon pointed out in an agreeable tone. "You besmirch my abilities dog", Pancthea retorted naked anger creeping into her tone causing the Demon to break out into another laughing fit. "Oh yeah, yeah sure and I'm the heavens favourite deity, please Pancthea don't lie to both of us and if you do want to lie, don't lie so pathetically". A growl escaped Pancthea's lips as wisps of blue fire gathered around her fingers, "Call me a liar one more time" she threatened only to be answered by more mocking laughter. The wisps of flames began to consolidate into streams of fire surrounding Pancthea before the chains binding her began to glow softly and the fire rapidly vanished. "Tch", the goddess cursed as the Demon let out another gut-wrenching bellow of laughter.
"Ah that really hits the spot, I've been envisioning that face for several hundred thousand years and it really does not disappoint!". Pancthea blocked out the sounds of the Demon's cackles as she tested the chains binding her, yanking on them with no small amount of strength. Instinctively she knew though they wouldn't break, they were the same chains she had designed specifically to hold the Demon that was still laughing in front of her. And although she would never admit it if the Demon couldn't break those chains than the odds that she could were so small as to simply be depressing. This whole situation was just depressing Pancthea thought to herself, a jailor locked in the cell she had built. Attempting to bury the sudden tidal wave of despair Pancthea examined the interior of the cell in attempt to keep her mind busy.
For some reason the colossal crack in the otherwise smooth white wall caught her eye.
"You really don't know how to take care other people's things do you, typical demonic uncouthness, what exactly is this and how did you make it". The Demon cocked its head at Pancthea, "Was that racist?" it pondered quietly before shrugging, heck it was racist why did it care if someone else was. "Let a guy have some secrets why don't you, but" the Demon snapped its fingers and the colossal fracture in the wall shifted from glowing with prismatic light and shifted to a view of someone stuffing food into their mouth, "Since you'll be staying here for a while you might as well know, this is my in-house entertainment system since I've decided to make this my home for a little while longer I thought I might as well have some entertainment".
"I've decided for the moment its more effective to allow my host to regain its autonomy then to puppet its body, this" the Demon gestured at the moving picture. "This allows me to observe his actions using his eyes whilst being trapped here".
Pancthea glanced at the Demon, "That's quite unlike you, for a control freak to relinquish control of one of your puppets is about as radical as you wanting to take up crochet". The Demon shrugged, "I'm trying on new look", it spread its hands dramatically mirth filling its voice, "Benevolent eminence in the shadows, what do you think?", the Demon made a dramatic pose flexing its muscles. "Do you think I can pull it off?", Pancthea made no attempt to hide the scorn on her face, "As opposed to your usual, what sadistically murderous monster under the bed?" she spat at the monster.
...
"Don't diss an effective system godling".
Pancthea sighed and rubbed her eyes, being the adult in the room she moved the conversation and pointed at the fracture displaying their host battling with a human infant. "How does that even work? We're in a pocket dimension inside his soul, why does it connect to his vision, how does that even work?". The Demon nodded its head, "Tell me about it, 200 gold a month and I only get channel! It's an absolute scam, plus the resolution is terrible, what do I have to do upgrade my vessel to a deluxe edition to unlock 3 dimensions!". Pancthea opened her mouth to agree, stopped, did double take and glanced askance at the Demon mouth open her eyebrows rising involuntarily.
Who was this person? Was this the same dire gloomy Demon that spent it free time writing bad poetry and refusing to come to family gatherings? Was this the same monster that brought the world to the brink of destruction? It was an unnerving sensation seeing a creature capable of rending space-time cracking puns, especially bad puns in front of its most hated enemy. Was it some kind of psychological trick to put her off guard? Or the opposite? Was he trying to get her to over think his actions whilst secretly hiding some agenda? Pancthea glanced at the Demon who was currently going "Boo!" at the picture of a squealing human infant. Pancthea blinked several times, but the hallucination stubbornly refused to dissipate.
"Maybe's he really went insane".
"What was that?" the Demon shot back, Pancthea made no response, she knew it could hear every word she had said perfectly. She would not play this creatures games. "So", she sized up the monster in front of her, "What now? Did you bind me her just to gloat before you flee this place, or are you hear to convince me of the righteous of your cause again?". The Demon made a dismissive motion as it turned from the fracture and turned its full attention of Pancthea. "Nah, I have no intention of describing colours to the blind again, this extended stay I have enjoyed here has taught me the meaning of the word, futile".
Pancthea rolled her eyes, "Would you kindly get to whatever point you want to make, you could've escaped here when that boy first broke the seal, but you chose to stay here, I presume you had a reason for that, speak".
The Demon stared at her intently. Silence filled the room as the pair began sizing each other up.
Six arms snapped out breaking the sound barrier as taloned fingers the size of small buildings raced towards Pancthea. The Demon's maw opened, and black smoke began to spew from its lips as it rammed its head forward, mouth open ready to tear Pancthea into bloody ribbons.
The chains around the Demon snapped taut a micro-second before impact leaving the Demon suspended centimetres away from the diminutive Pancthea.